River Road Asset Management LLC Grows Holdings in Rentokil Initial plc (NYSE:RTO)

River Road Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Rentokil Initial plc (NYSE:RTO) by 114.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,786,010 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,018,866 shares during the period. Rentokil Initial accounts for 1.3% of River Road Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. River Road Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Rentokil Initial were worth $95,862,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Rentokil Initial in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Assetmark Inc. acquired a new position in Rentokil Initial in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. increased its position in Rentokil Initial by 65.2% in the 4th quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 1,505 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 594 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its stake in Rentokil Initial by 30.1% during the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,737 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 402 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co lifted its position in Rentokil Initial by 15,208.3% during the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 1,837 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 1,825 shares during the period. 9.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Rentokil Initial in a report on Friday. Citigroup raised shares of Rentokil Initial to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Rentokil Initial Stock Performance

NYSE RTO opened at $21.80 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.43, a PEG ratio of 7.95 and a beta of 1.14. The business’s 50 day moving average is $24.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $25.71. Rentokil Initial plc has a 12-month low of $21.69 and a 12-month high of $34.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75.

Rentokil Initial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.3825 per share. This represents a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. Rentokil Initial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.84%.

Rentokil Initial Company Profile

Rentokil Initial plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides route-based services in North America, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, Asia, the Pacific, and internationally. It offers a range of pest control services for rodents, and flying and crawling insects, as well as other forms of wildlife management for commercial customers.